Today I'm going back seven years to 2014 and Lye Town's Midland League Premier Division fixture against Dunkirk at their Stourbridge Road ground in front of 49 hardy souls on a wet December night.
Just in case you're wondering, this wasn't a European match. Dunkirk are not French and hail instead from the Dunkirk area of Nottingham. Perhaps appropriately however, Dunkirk's nickname is "the Boatmen" and the club badge depicts a lone oarsman rowing a small boat surely to rescue a few stranded soldiers from the beaches of Normandy? That's my theory anyway! These days Dunkirk ply their trade in the East Midlands Counties League so they've been shuffled around since their Midland League days as they were to be found in the United Counties League only last season. Lye Town ("the Flyers": my guess is that they preferred to be nicknamed Flyers rather than Lyers?) are to be found in the Black Country in the West Midlands.
Both Lye Town's ground and the pitch have seen better days. If you take a look at the videos accompanying my blog article for this match you'll notice that the pitch looks atrocious and certainly not suited to keeping the ball on the ground for a passing game. You may also notice that, unusually for this level of football, the goal highlights are accompanied by a very professional sounding commentary. Certainly the commentator doesn't sound like he hails from the Black Country! Despite the pitch, both sides proceeded to make a game of it and Lye ran out winners to the tune of 6-2 after being two goals down at one stage in the first half.
Lye Town finished the season in sixth place in the Midland Football League Premier Division whilst Dunkirk languished in 19th place in the 22 team league, comfortably avoiding relegation. Champions that season were Nottingham-based Basford United who were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division 1 South.
CRB Match No. 2014
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